Divisions In the Face of the Enemy
Confirming the fears of many, rival unions are continuing to engage one another
in at least some low intensity conflict since the split in the AFL-CIO. Last
week we wrote about the refusal of the IAM to support an imminent strike by a
breakaway union of mechanics at Northwest Airlines. Hereís a couple of fresh
examples.

The Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority contracts out a tiny
percentage of its bus routes. Recently, the MTA switched contractors on four
routes in the San Fernando Valley from First Transit to Transportation Concepts.
The new bosses demanded that three dozen affected drivers, represented by
Teamsters Local 848, take big cuts in pay, sick leave and vacation time. The
workers responded with a strike.

Clearly such a
small group in a big industry needs solidarity if they are to have any hope. The
five thousand bus and train operators employed directly by the MTA should be
natural allies. But those workers are represented by the United Transportation
Union. The Teamsters and UTU are battling one another in the rail industry and,
before their recent split from the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters diligently blocked UTU
efforts to reaffiliate with the Federation. The Los Angeles UTU leadership
wasted no time issuing a statement, "Our members have been instructed to report
to work and do their jobs."

The Teamsters
are also involved in a bitter strike in St Louis against a local distributor for
Anheuser-Busch beer products. I hear reports that area AFL-CIO unions have been
instructed that they canít make any contributions to the strikersí solidarity
fund.

Taken along
with the expulsion of the unions that have withdrawn from the AFL-CIO
(Teamsters, SEIU, Carpenters, and UFCW up until now) from state feds, central
labor councils, and building trades councils, these spiteful rejections of
appeals by small groups of workers fighting for the very life of their unions
spells danger ahead for the whole labor movement.

As those of
you who follow this column know, I donít have much sympathy for the Change to
Win group that carried out an unprincipled and ill-advised split from the
AFL-CIO. But they arenít the enemy. Even less so are their local unions that are
forced into combat with the employers. An injury to one is an injury to allĖeven
if not all recognize the importance of the principle of solidarity because they
are disoriented by dead end factionalism. To paraphrase a wise workers leader,
"division in the face of the enemy is never an intelligent or effective
strategy."

Remembering the First Spam Blockers
Thereís a
program in St Paul August 22 Iíd sure
like to attend (Iíll be at the UE convention in Chicago at the time instead).
Itís a commemoration of the twentieth anniversary of the Hormel Strike by UFCW
Local P-9 in Austin, Minnesota. Though ultimately defeated by a combination of
corporate power, state intervention, and, above all, treachery of their own
international union, this was the kind of fight about which stories are told,
and songs are sung for generations to come. I was living in the Twin Cities
during much of this fight and had an opportunity to follow it closely.

The struggle
was remarkable not only for the courage, energy, and determination of the
strikersĖand Iíve never seen one hold together better. Also impressive was the
great solidarity movement that was organized independently of the established
union institutions. Individuals who saw solidarity as more than sending an
e-mail message stepped forward to pull it together. Fighters such as Tom Laney,
then president of the UAW local at the St Paul Ford plant; Peter Rachleff, a
professor at Macalester College always deeply involved in workers struggles, and
who later wrote an excellent book about the fight,
Hard-Pressed in the Heartland: The Hormel Strike and
the Future of the Labor Movement; Dave Riehle, now a UTU Local
Chairman on the Union Pacific; two veterans of the historic 1934 Minneapolis
Teamster Strike, Jake Cooper and Harry DeBoer (unfortunately no longer with us);
and many others, built an impressive Twin Cities P-9 Support Committee. That
group organized contingents for picket line battles in Austin, including facing
the National Guard, and sent several caravans bringing food to the strike
kitchen. The inimitable Ray Rogers, who now heads up the Killer Coke campaign,
helped take a boycott of Hormel products to a national level. Strikers began
speaking around the countryĖincluding to other locals at Hormel plants
continuing to work under different contracts. Artists came to Austin to paint an
inspiring solidarity mural on the wall of the P-9 headquarters.

When it became
clear that the P-9 strikers were never going to surrender the UFCW international
leadership pulled the plug on the local union itself. They organized a new local
to sign a contract with Hormel and end the strike. One of the thugs sent in to
Austin to clean house was Joe HansenĖnow international president of the UFCW and
a leader of Change to Win. Brother Hansen took his job very seriously, including
recognizing the urgent need to obliterate the solidarity mural on the unionís
property. When union building trades workers refused to do the job Hansen is
reputed to have personally organized the sandblasting.

Even though
the boycott ended some time ago I still canít bring myself to buy any Hormel
productĖand I used to enjoy a grilled Spam sandwich now and then. I wish the
event in St Paul well and recommend a serious study of this struggle to anyone
interested in working class solidarity.

Meet Me In St Louis?
One group that may become increasingly important to post-split solidarity
efforts is Jobs with
Justice. JwJ is holding its annual conference in St Louis
September 22-25 and I plan to be there.

Because of a
scheduling conflict with the September 24 March on Washington against the war,
JwJ is also organizing an antiwar rally at the conclusion of the conference,
2PM, Sunday, September 25, near the Gateway Arch. KC Labor Against the War and
the KC Labor Party, are organizing a day-trip by car to this event. If you are
interested in hooking up with this effort contact Tony Saper,
saper@publicnetworking.org,
816-221-3638.